Inside Out with Jim Bennett and Ian Wilks

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In the second part of our conversation about Jeff Strong's book Torn, we move beyond identifying the challenges facing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to asking a more difficult question: What can we actually do about them?
Jeff Strong and Greg Prince return to Inside Out with Ian and Jim to explore how fear shapes Church culture, leadership, and our relationships with one another. Jeff identifies four crucial tensions within the Church: standards versus acceptance, sanctuary versus transcendence, obedience versus agency, and unity versus harmony.

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What happens when a deeply personal tragedy collides with the politics of abortion and the policies of your own church?
Ian and Jim welcome Marissa Rasmussen, a lifelong Latter-day Saint whose experience losing her daughter, Emma, profoundly changed her understanding of abortion, reproductive rights, and religious authority.

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What does it take to cover one of the world's most influential religious organizations—and what happens when the stories get uncomfortable?
Ian and Jim welcome Tamarra Kemsley, religion reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune, for a candid conversation about journalism, Mormonism, politics, and the challenges of reporting on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Tamarra takes us behind the scenes of the Tribune's religion coverage, discussing the church's involvement in abortion politics, the impact of Trumpism on Latter-day Saints, and the surprisingly cordial relationship between the Tribune and church leadership. She also explores why LDS apostles rarely grant interviews, whether greater transparency would benefit the church, and how professional journalism can maintain its credibility in an age of social media outrage and increasingly convincing AI-generated misinformation.

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What does it mean to stay in a church when you don't agree with everything it teaches?
Ian and Jim welcome Jaxon Washburn of Faith Matters for a thoughtful, candid conversation about faith, identity, and the complicated relationship between personal conviction and institutional religion.
Jaxon shares his journey through Mormonism, his Armenian mission, his marriage to a woman who has left the Church, and his experience as an openly bisexual Latter-day Saint. Why does he choose to stay? What does he believe the Church gets right, and where does he hope it will change?

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Why are so many people leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and why do so many faithful members misunderstand their reasons for leaving?
In this episode of Inside Out, Ian and Jim welcome two influential voices in the conversation about Mormonism's future: historian Dr. Greg Prince and former mission president and business executive Jeff Strong, author of Torn: Why People We Love Are Leaving the Church and What We Can Learn From Them.
Drawing on extensive research, decades of leadership experience, and a shared commitment to the people of the Church, Greg and Jeff explore the growing disconnect between institutional leadership and members experiencing crises of faith. They discuss the Church's response to their work, the cultural barriers to meaningful reform, and the difficult question of whether an institution that claims divine authority can acknowledge its mistakes and change course.